OKLAHOMA CITY – Coming off its biggest win of the season, the MACU Men's Basketball team continued to stay hot inside the Gaulke Activity Center as the Evangels scored a season-high in a dominant 102-61 victory to complete the season sweep over Southwestern Christian on Thursday night.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Juwan White – 22 Points, 7-9 FG, 4-4 3FG, 4-4 FT, 4 Assists, 2 Steals
• Josiah Fulcher – 15 Points, 6-8 FG, 2-3 3FG, 5 Reb, 4 Assists
• Tarrence Gaines – 14 Points, 5-12 FG, 4-8 3FG, 3 Reb
• Zander Baker – 11 Points, 4-7 FG, 3-5 3FG, 3 Reb, 2 Steals

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian (15-5, 11-5 SAC) opened the contest with a blistering start, scoring the first eight point in less than two minutes of action as Juwan White's three started the run before Quentin Woodson ended it with a free throw with 18:01 to go.
  • A Tymier Adkins three at the 17:46 mark finally put Southwestern Christian (4-16, 2-14 SAC) on the board, but a pair of Tarrence Gaines long balls started a 9-2 Evangels run capped off on Josiah Fulcher's trey with 14:36 remaining to make it 17-5.
  • The Eagles closed the gap to six over the next few minutes, but seven unanswered by the Evangels allowed MACU to double-up their advantage at 26-13 midway through the half on Marque Wilkerson's finger roll lay-in with 10:37 left.
  • SCU briefly knocked it down to a single-digit advantage on a pair of triples by Taylor Turner, but the Evangels once again answered back with nine straight points as Magok Manyang's corner three swelled the edge to 37-19 with 5:23 to go.
  • Tymier Adkins hit a three with exactly five minutes remaining for SCU's last long ball of the half as MACU closed out with a 15-3 streak that was finished with Jabez Williamson poked the ball away to Tarrence Gaines, who buried a deep three from near the half-court line at the buzzer to send MACU into the break with a 52-25 advantage.
• Second Half
  • The first four-and-a-half minutes of the second stanza were relatively even with Southwestern Christian holding a slight 12-11 edge in the scoring, but a pair of Fulcher buckets jumpstarted a 14-2 MACU run capped off on a deep Zander Baker triple from the left wing to stretch the Evangels lead to 77-39 with 10:31 on the clock.
  • A three apiece from Adkins and Jay Jerdee stemmed a 6-2 SCU surge trimmed it to a 34-point game, but the Evangels eventually swelled it to a 40-point advantage as a 13-7 MACU surge was finished off on Quentin Woodson's lay-in off a Carson Lambakis dish, setting the score to 92-52 with 3:24 to go.
  • Southwestern Christian responded by scoring five of the next seven, but Lambakis gave MACU its largest lead of the game with layups on back-to-back possessions as his scoop with 1:39 left set the score to 99-57.
  • SCU got a pair of buckets back over the next minute, but Peyton Musick finished off the contest with a deep three from the left side at the 32 second mark to seal the 102-61 final.

GAME SUMMARY

• For the second straight game, Mid-America Christian shot better than 50 percent from both the field and from the three-point arc, going 38-for-64 (59.4 percent) overall while knocking down a season-high 16-of-31 (51.6 percent) from downtown to go with 10-for-15 (66.7 percent) from the foul line.
• Despite the lopsided loss, Southwestern Christian didn't have a bad shooting performance, knocking down 22-for-51 (43.1 percent) as well as tied a season-most 12-of-25 (48 percent) from three-point range to go with 5-for-5 (100 percent) on its foul shots.
• However, one of the biggest differences in the game came in the turnover battle as MACU forced the Eagles into twice as many turnovers at 18-to-9, resulting in the Evangels owning an 18-5 lead in the points off turnovers department.
• The Evangels also downright dominated the glass, out-boarding SCU by a 38-19 margin, marking a season-low in rebounds for the Eagles while MACU impressively held the opposition to no offensive rebounds. It marked the first time in the NAIA Era (2007-present) that MACU didn't allow single offensive board.
• Juwan White continued his offensive tear by scoring a game-high 22 points on 7-of-9 shooting, going a perfect 4-for-4 from three-point range and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe to go with four assists with no giveaways and also tallied a pair of steals.
• Josiah Fulcher also remained hot from the field, netting 15 points on 6-for-8 from the floor, 2-for-3 from downtown and yanked down five rebounds to go with four assists.
• Tarrence Gaines wrapped up the night in double-figures with 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting, going 4-for-8 from distance to go with three boards.
• Zander Baker rounded out MACU's double-digit scorers with 11 points behind a 4-of-7 shooting performance, netting 3-for-5 from range to go with three rebounds and a pair of thefts.
• MACU had three other players come dangerously close to breaking double-figures with Magok Manyang and Keeshawn Mason tallying nine points apiece while Marque Wilkerson finished with eight.
• Manyang finished led the charge behind MACU's balanced rebounding effort with seven rebounds.
• As a team, the Evangels put together their best assist-turnover ratio of the season as MACU dished out a season-high 24 dimes and committed just nine turnovers for an incredible 2.7-to-1 ratio.
• After the win, MACU completed the season sweep over Southwestern Christian after defeating the Eagles inside the Gaulke 74-62 back on Dec. 12. The Evangels have swept the season series in back-to-back seasons while the 41-point margin of victory is the most lopsided result between the two teams in the NAIA Era.
• With Langston suffering a shocking 75-74 home loss to College of the Ozarks on Thursday night, MACU is very much in the mix for the SAC Championship as the Evangels are now just a game-back of Nelson and Wayland Baptist at the top of the league standings and a half-game back of Langston for third.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will continue its five-game home stand inside the Gaulke on Saturday as the Evangels host crosstown foe Oklahoma City for a 4 p.m. tip-off.